Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the 2020 European Le Mans Series was held over five rounds instead of six, with visits to Le Castellet, Spa-Francorchamps, Monza and Portimão providing plenty of variation to test the teams and drivers to the full.
The season started in Le Castellet in July and followed by a trip to Belgium for the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.The planned visit to Barcelona was cancelled due to restrictions in Spain and the ELMS returned to Le Castellet for Round 3 for the Le Castellet 240, which referred to the 240-minute race duration.
The penultimate round was held in Italy at the Temple of Speed, more commonly known as the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, and the final race was held in Portugal at Portimão, which had just held its first Formula One race the weekend prior to the ELMS arriving.
Here are some facts and figures from the 2020 season for the LMP3 category:
- Twelve cars were entered on the full season entry
- 32 drivers, from 14 different nations, took part in at least one race during the 2020 season.
- 10 British drivers took part in an LMP3 race in 2020, with 8 French, 4 Swiss, 4 Americans, 3 German, 3 Italian, 2 Spanish, 2 Canadian, 2 Belgian, 2 Lithuanian, 1 Finn, 1 Dane, 1 Brazilian and 1 Greek.
- Wayne Boyd scored four pole positions from five attempts in the no2 United Autosports Ligier JS P320-Nissan. The pole position at the Le Castellet 240 was secured by David Droux in the no8 Realteam Racing Ligier JSP320-Nissan.
- The only race that wasn’t won by the pole sitter was the 4 Hours of Monza. Pole position was taken by Wayne Boyd, but the race was won by Martin Hippe and Dino Lunardi in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier-Nissan.
- Of the 12 cars entered for the 2020 season only 7 scored a podium finish.
- 14 of the 15 podiums were taken by a team running the Ligier JS P320, while only one podium finish was secured by the Duqueine M30-D08.
- The no2 United Autosports Ligier-Nissan of Wayne Boyd, Rob Wheldon and Tom Gamble took three wins, one third and one DNF to win the 2020 ELMS LMP3 Team and Driver titles.
- This was United Autosports third LMP3 championship, with wins in 2016 and 2017.
- Three LMP3 race lap records were broken in 2020. Tom Gamble (no2 United Autosports Ligier) set a new lap record during the 4 Hours of Le Castellet [1m37.180 / 172.4 kph] and the 4 Hours of Portimão [1m49.683 / 189.4 kph]. David Droux (no8 Realteam Racing Ligier) set a new lap record during the 4 Hours of Monza [1m45.344 /198.0kph].
